Cleantech and Environmental News – Latest Headlines

Joseph Miceli, a researcher at ASU's Biodesign Institute, studies specialized microorganisms known as anode respiring bacteria (ARB). Rather than investigating their role in health and disease however, his research explores the ability of these microbes to clean up waste and produce useful energy in the form of electricity or hydrogen.

In some of the first results from a federally funded initiative to find new ways of capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) from coal-fired power plants, Rice University scientists have found that CO2 can be removed more economically using 'waste' heat - low-grade steam that cannot be used to produce electricity.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has unveiled a new initiative to support American manufacturing of clean energy products, including solar technologies and batteries, with a focus on improving productivity.

The 2013 Summit on Energy Efficiency will bring together leading experts to discuss the latest innovations in materials science and technology for energy generation, energy storage, lighting, and electronics.

As the world becomes increasingly digital, demand for data centres is booming - and so too is their energy consumption. Data centres worldwide produce around half the volume of emissions of the global aviation industry and more than the total emissions of the Netherlands. EU-funded researchers are developing ways to reduce data centres' environmental impact.

China's 'Big Five' power utilities have hundreds of gigawatts of thermal power plants in water-stressed areas and face retrofit costs of up to $20 billion to improve their resilience, new report finds.

Researchers at the University of Georgia have found a way to transform the carbon dioxide trapped in the atmosphere into useful industrial products. Their discovery may soon lead to the creation of biofuels made directly from the carbon dioxide in the air.

The marine animal tunicate can be used both as biofuel and fish food, according to research from Norway. On the ocean floor, under the pier, and on ship ropes -- that's where the tunicates live. Tunicates are marine filter feeders that serve as bacteria eaters and as a foodstuff in Korea and Japan. But in the future they may become more prevalent.

Only a few climate models were able to reproduce the observed changes in extreme precipitation in China over the last 50 years. This is the finding of a doctoral thesis from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden.